Progress

I am ashamed to admit I was unable to get down to Grant Park in time to take part in the historical event, but I doubt I was missed. I made it home from rehearsal in time to see MSNBC call it for Obama, and just seeing that blue number jump above the 270 mark sent a thrill up my spine. As an added bonus, the Democrats picked up five more seats in the Senate, including Elizabeth Dole’s. This will be the first time in three decades that neither a Bush nor a Dole holds a seat in Congress or the White House. Huzzah!

The night was not perfect. Michelle “Joe McCarthy” Bachmann kept her job, as did Norm Coleman, Saxby Chambliss, and (inexplicably) Ted Stevens. And worst of all, California passed Proposition 8. I have a few friends in California that I just want to hug right now.

Still, I woke up this morning feeling like anything was possible. When was the last time that happened?

I had a line on two tickets, then lost one. Killed me. But it was a night I had to share with my wife – we didn’t want to be separated for what was, in every sense, the best night in our lives as a citizen of this nation. We are, at last, the people we say we are. I now know what the Boomers felt for Kennedy, what the Depression generation felt for FDR. (Screw Reagan. He was the model for Bush’s “go shopping” type of inspirational drive).